The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Esther Walson-Jack, Didi Walson-Jack, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, told the House of Representatives Committee
Wednesday that her office neither deployed personnel to nor provided office space for a group that has been presenting itself as the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council.
Testifying before a House of Representatives investigative panel, Ms. Walson-Jack disputed claims that the organisation enjoyed formal government recognition.
She said the Office of the Head of the Civil Service did not approve an organisational chart for the council and did not authorise staff deployment or allocate accommodation for it.
“The issue as regards deployment — there was no deployment. The issue as regards office accommodation — we did not give office accommodation. The issue as regards organisational structure — we did not issue any organisational structure,” she told the committee.
She said her office had, however, processed an authorised-establishment request and granted a provisional recruitment waiver after reviewing documents presented by representatives of the organisation.
That provisional waiver, she explained, is a standard, temporary measure that allows a new body to seek approvals from the Budget Office of the Federation and the Federal Character Commission before returning to the Head of Service for final recruitment clearance.
Ms. Walson-Jack said the office requires two core documents from newly formed agencies: a letter appointing the chief executive or principal officer and the enabling statute that establishes the organisation.
Over decades of handling similar requests from both permanent and ad hoc federal bodies, she said, her office had never encountered a case like this.
“This is one in almost a century of the Federal Civil Service,” she said, adding that fraudsters often try to stay a step ahead of authorities.
The House committee is probing allegations that the purported council fraudulently presented itself as a federal agency and secured official recognition from several public institutions.
